1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to book printing, and more particularly to a system for and a method of producing a book on demand.
2. Description of the Related Art
Typically a book comprises a plurality of text pages stacked one upon the other (referred to as book block) and a cover overlying the front, back and spine of the book block. The book block is typically printed in black and white, whereas the cover is typically printed in color and on paper which may be thicker or of higher quality. Books are generally mass produced by offset printing to ensure cheap manufacture and, after distribution all over the world, general accessibility. This traditional method requires the publishing industry to print a large number of copies (at least several hundreds, generally thousands), and, after the books are produced, to store, distribute and sell them to retailers. During production, the components like the book block and cover are produced separately off-line and joined later. To make up for later production imperfections, the printing house produces not only the required numbers of components, but also excess components. For example, to produce 1000 complete books the printing house may print 1200 book blocks and 1300 covers. Consequently, at least a part of these excess components go to waste. Furthermore, since the demand for a book is very hard to estimate, large numbers of books, typically up to 40%, go to waste when they are not sold. Production, storage and disposal of these excess books not only affect the price of the finished product but also burden the environment. Further disadvantages are the slowness of the supply chain, which usually comprises a retail store, and the impossibility of procuring a book not in print anymore and thus unavailable.
In recent years, book printing has undergone changes as computer technology and laser printers have advanced. This new technology allows for machines capable of printing books with lower numbers of copies “on demand”. So far, book blocks and covers are produced separately and manually inserted into a binder for binding. Quality control is performed by visual inspection, when the operator inserts the covers and book blocks into the binder. Due to the manual handling of the components, low numbers of copies (down to one single copy) cannot be produced economically.
International patent application WO 92/02888 discloses a system and a method of manufacturing a single book copy, which is especially adapted for direct consumer sales, since the manufacture of a selected book can take place at the point of sale. The apparatus comprises a computer storage of the text, the color graphic cover and sales information for a large number of books. A computer module permits the consumer to scan the sales information and select a book to be purchased. Upon command, the system automatically prints the text and color cover of the selected book, cuts the pages to a predetermined size and binds the pages and cover together while the customer waits.
Another system and method for printing a book on demand is known from U.S. published patent application 20020061238 A1. The apparatus includes one or more text page printers and a color cover printer. The text page printers print the text pages and form them into a book block. The color printer prints the cover. The book block and the cover are delivered to a binding station at which the spine of the book is adhesively bound to the cover. The book is then delivered to a trimming station where excess margins are trimmed from the book. All transfers are accomplished with a carriage which moves along a linear work path.
These known systems are optimized for low production rates, especially for manufacture at the place of sale. Since they are “in-line systems” they are only capable of manufacturing one book at a time. This means printing and binding of the book block and the cover must completed before the system is ready for the next job. High down-times of the different units (printing, binding) of the known systems are accepted. The known systems are thus not suited to replace the conventional book factories efficiently and economically. Nor are they equally suited for efficient production of high numbers of copies, as well as efficient production of a lower number of copies, such as a single copy.